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Did Minnesota schools win over voters, or just those who bothered to vote?

By Christopher Magancmagan@pioneerpress.com

Posted:
11/09/2013 10:00:32 AM CST

Updated:
11/10/2013 01:39:01 PM CST

(Thinkstock)

Minnesota voters supported school levies in a record-setting way Tuesday, with all but a handful of tax requests winning approval.

Fifty of 57 operating levy requests were approved, a passage rate of 88 percent, the highest since the Minnesota School Boards Association began keeping records in 1980. Requests for capital funds to maintain or improve schools passed at the same rate, with 23 of the 26 districts with measures on the ballot winning voter support.

In the metro area, only two operating requests were rejected by voters.

District officials and advocates say the numbers are validation of hard-fought efforts to convince voters of schools' needs in what continue to be lean times.

"It's been a long time since it has been that positive," said Scott Croonquist, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, about the levy approval rates. "I think the electorate has a heightened awareness of the importance of education."

Critics argue that school leaders were able to take advantage of low voter turnout and an increasingly confusing school-funding system.

"I think it is absolutely the case that some government officials know that low turnout gives them the ability to affect elections easier," said Ted Lillie, executive director of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.

BIG WINS

In the east metro, districts that had the most to lose had their tax requests approved by the largest margins.

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Lakeville, Stillwater and Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan faced multimillion-dollar shortfalls between projected revenue and spending plans. District leaders said cuts to staffing and programs were inevitable if their levy requests failed.

All three districts' requests were approved by more than 60 percent of voters.

Amy Willingham, who helped lead the Unite for 194 parent group that supported Lakeville's levy request, said communicating what was at stake helped her community recognize the district's need for new revenue. Lakeville passed its first levy increase in a decade after cutting $14 million in staff and programs over those years.

"I feel like Lakeville wanted to say loud and clear they wanted to invest in education," Willingham said.

Districts and levy supporters had to make the case for more revenue after the DFL-controlled Legislature made what members called "historic investments" in education during the last legislative session. Their education funding bill included $485 million in new school spending over the next two years.

Lawmakers also gave school leaders more control over existing school levies by giving them the power to convert up to $724 per pupil in existing taxes from voter control to school board control. The change was designed to give schools more reliable operating revenue, but it has been criticized for taking direct control away from taxpayers.

Croonquist said that despite the new money and taxing power provided by the Legislature, districts still were able to make the case to voters that levies were needed. Much of the new state money provided by the Legislature is targeted at specific programs, he pointed out, and districts will receive increases of just 1.5 percent a year in general funding.

"We continue to have a funding system in Minnesota that is a state and local partnership," Croonquist said. "Voters understand just because the Legislature made an investment, it doesn't take away from their responsibility to fund schools."

LOW VOTER TURNOUT

School tax requests often dominate the ballot in years when there are no state or national races for voters to decide. Turnout was highest Tuesday in districts asking voters for new operating money, but the number of ballots cast was a fraction of those cast in a typical presidential or statewide election year, data from county boards of elections show.

Mahtomedi had the highest voter turnout in the east metro, with 44 percent of registered voters casting ballots. The district was one of two metro districts to have a request for new operating money rejected by voters.

In neighboring Stillwater, 36 percent of registered voters went to the polls, and a $5.2 million annual increase in operating funds was approved. In South Washington County, where two requests were approved and one was denied, 18 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

In 2010, when Minnesota last elected a governor, turnout in Washington County was 66 percent. Two years later in a presidential race, it was 83 percent.

Across the east metro, districts with requests for tax increases saw an average voter turnout of 25 percent.

Croonquist argues that school districts shy away from state and national election years because their message often gets lost among all the other campaigns.

But the low number of voters deciding millions of dollars worth of school tax requests troubles taxpayer advocates such as Lillie.

He says the state's education funding system and local school referendums are so complex that it is hard for voters to make informed decisions. Faced with complicated decisions, many voters stay home, he said.

"It is challenging to get your arms around," Lillie said of the constantly changing education funding landscape. "Our concern is transparency. How do we get the right information to voters so they can make decisions?"

Lillie recommends giving voters independent tools so they can compare and contrast district spending. Much of the information available in the run-up to levy votes comes from advocates, opponents or the districts themselves.

Straightforward, objective information about taxes and how they are spent might draw more people to the polls in local election years.

"I think we would have a better-quality outcome with more trust," he said. "I've talked to a number of people who feel their government has taken advantage of them."